1 John 2

1 John 2:1

2:1 John gives us God’s perfect standard for His people, and His gracious provision in the event of failure. The little children refers to all the members of the family of God. God’s perfect standard is then set forth in the words these things I write to you, that you may not sin. Because God is perfect, His standard for His people is absolute perfection. He would not be God if He said: These things I write to you so that you sin just as little as you can. God cannot condone sin in the least degree, and so He sets perfection before us as the goal.

The Lord Jesus did this with the woman who was caught in the act of adultery; He said, Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.At the same time, the Lord knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust, and so He has graciously made provision for us in the event of failure. This is expressed in the words, if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. An advocate is one who comes to the side of another person in time of need in order to help. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus does for us when we sin. He immediately comes to us in order to restore us to fellowship with Himself.

Notice that it does not say, If any man confesses his sins … . As our Advocate, the Lord seeks to bring us to the place where we do confess and forsake our sin. There is something very wonderful in this verse which we should not overlook. It says, And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father. It does not say with God, but rather with the Father. He is still our Father even if we sin. This reminds us of the blessed truth that though sin in a believer’s life breaks fellowship, it does not break relationship. When a person is born again, he becomes a child of God. God is henceforth his Father, and nothing can ever affect that relationship. A birth is something that cannot be undone. A son may disgrace his father, but he is still a son by the fact of birth. Notice that our Advocate is Jesus Christ the righteous. It is good to have a righteous Defender. When Satan brings some accusation against a believer, the Lord Jesus can point to His finished work on Calvary and say, Charge that to My account.2:2 And the Lord Jesus is not only our Advocate, but He is also the propitiation for our sins. This means that by dying for us, He freed us from the guilt of our sins and restored us to God by providing the needed satisfaction and by removing every barrier to fellowship. God can show mercy to us because Christ has satisfied the claims of justice. It is not often that an advocate (or lawyer) pays for his client’s sins; yet that is what our Lord has done, and most remarkable of all, He paid for them by the sacrifice of Himself. John adds that He is the satisfying sacrifice not for our sins only, but also for the whole world. This does not mean that the whole world is saved. Rather it means that the work of the Lord Jesus is sufficient in value to save all the world, but it is only efficient to save those who actually put their trust in Him. It is because His work is sufficient for all men that the gospel can be offered to all the world. But if all men were automatically saved, there would be no need of preaching the gospel to them. It is interesting that the superscription on the cross was written in Hebrewthe language of God’s chosen peopleand in Greek and Latin, the principal languages of the then-known world. It was thus proclaimed to all the world that Jesus Christ is a sufficient Savior for all men everywhere.

1 John 2:3

III. MARKS OF THOSE IN THE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP: OBEDIENCE AND LOVE (2:3-11) 2:3 John is about to give the true marks of those who are in the Christian fellowship. The first is obedience. We can have assurance concerning our relationship with God if our life is characterized by a loving desire to do His will. These verses are doubtless aimed at the Gnostics who professed to have a superior knowledge of God, but who showed little interest in keeping the commandments of the Lord. John shows that such knowledge is hollow and worthless. John describes the believer’s obedience in a threefold waykeeping His commandments (v. 3); keeping His word (v. 5); walking as He walked (v. 6). There is a definite progress in thought. To keep His commandments is to obey the teachings of the Lord Jesus as found in the NT. To keep His word means not only obedience to what is written, but a desire to do what we know would please Him. To walk as He walked is the full expression of God’s standard for His people; it means to live as Jesus lived. 2:4 John does not imply that the Christian life consists in faultless obedience to the will of God, but rather that the Christian habitually desires to keep His commandments and to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. John is looking at the over-all tenor of a person’s life. If someone says he knows God but does not keep His commandments, then it is clear that he is not telling the truth. 2:5 On the other hand, when we keep His word, then the love of God is perfected in us. The love of God does not refer to our love for God, but rather to His love for us. The thought is that God’s love toward us has been brought to its goal when we keep His word. It accomplishes its aim and reaches its end in producing obedience to Him. 2:6 Therefore, whoever says he abides in Him should walk just as the Lord Jesus walked. His life, as set forth in the Gospels, is our pattern and guide. It is not a life which we can live in our own strength or energy, but is only possible in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is to turn our lives over to Him unreservedly, and allow Him to live His life in and through us. 2:7 Another important mark of true believers is love for the brethren. John says that this is not a new commandment which he is writing, but an old commandment which they had had from the beginning. In other words, the Lord Jesus had taught His disciples to love one another from the very beginning of His earthly ministry. The Gnostics were always parading their teachings as being new. But the apostle urges his readers to test everything by the teaching of the Lord Jesus when He was here on earth. There is always the danger of drifting away from that which was in the beginning. John says, Get back to the beginning, and you will know what is true.2:8 Yet this commandment is not only an old commandment, but there is a sense in which it is also new. When the Lord Jesus was here, He not only taught His disciples to love one another, but He gave them a living example of what He meant. His life was characterized by love for others.

The commandment was thus true in Him when He was here on earth. But now there is a sense in which the Old Commandment is new. In this dispensation, it is not only true in the Lord Jesus, but in believers also. These Christians had formerly been heathens, living in hatred and passion. Now they illustrated and embodied the great law of love in their lives. Thus the darkness is passing away whenever men receive the light of the gospel. The darkness has not all vanished because many have not come to Christ, but Christ, the true light, is already shining, and whenever sinners turn to Him they are saved, and henceforth love their fellow believers. 2:9-11 In verses 9-11 we have the contrast between love that is false and that which is true. If one professes to be a Christian and yet hates those who are truly Christians, it is a sure sign that such a one is in darkness until now. This latter expression shows that it is not a case of backsliding that is in view. The man continues to be what he always was, namely, unsaved. On the other hand, the one who characteristically loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. This may mean that the man himself is not in danger of stumbling, or that he will not cause others to stumble.

Either interpretation is true. If the Christian is really living in touch with the Lord, the light illuminates his own pathway, and no one else is offended because of any discrepancy between his profession and his practice. The Gnostics had a deep hatred for those who were true to God’s word. This proved that they were in darkness and walked in darkness, and that they did not know where they were going, because the darkness had blind ed their eyes. As if to illustrate the brotherly love about which he has been speaking, the apostle now stops to address loving greetings to those who are members of the family of God.

1 John 2:12

IV. STAGES OF GROWTH IN THE FELLOWSHIP (2:12-14) 2:12 First he embraces the whole family with the expression little children. Here there is no thought of age or spiritual development. John is speaking to all who belong to the Lord, and this is proved by the rest of the verse, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake. This is true of all Christians. It is a wonderful thing to know, as a present possession, the complete remission of our sins. Notice, too, that our sins are forgiven for His name’s sake. It is for Christ’s sake that God forgives us our sins. 2:13 Fathers are described as those who have known the One who is from the beginning, mature believers who have known the sweet companionship of the Son of God and are satisfied with Him. Young men in the spiritual family are characterized by vigor and by combat. This is the period of conflict and of wrestling with the foe. Young men … overcome the wicked one because they have learned the secret of victory, namely, Not I, but Christ living in me. The little children are the babes in the faith. They do not know very much, perhaps, but they do know the Father. 2:14 When John repeats his address to the fathers, it is the same as at the first. This is because they have achieved maturity in spiritual experience. Again the young men are addressed as those who are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. They have overcome the wicked one because the word of God abides in them. The Lord Jesus was able to defeat Satan in the wilderness by quoting the Scriptures. This emphasizes the importance of constantly feeding on the Bible and having it ready to repel the attacks of Satan.

1 John 2:15

V. TWO DANGERS TO THE FELLOWSHIP: THE WORLD AND FALSE TEACHERS (2:15-28) In verses 15-17, we have a strong warning against the world and all its false ways. Perhaps this is addressed primarily to the young men, for whom the world often holds a special attraction, but it is a warning that applies to all the Lord’s people. The world here is not the planet on which we live, or the natural creation about us. Rather it is the system which man has built up in an effort to make himself happy without Christ. It may include the world of culture, the world of opera, art, educationin short, any sphere in which the Lord Jesus is not loved and welcomed. Someone has defined it as human society insofar as it is organized on wrong principles, and characterized by base desires, false values, and egoism.2:15, 16 We are plainly warned not to love the world or the things that are in the world, for the simple reason that love for the world is not compatible with love for the Father.

All that the world has to offer may be described as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh refers to such sensual bodily appetites as proceed from within our evil nature. The lust of the eyes applies to such evil desires as may arise from what we see. The pride of life is an unholy ambition for self-display and self-glory. These three elements of worldliness are illustrated in the sin of Eve. The tree was good for food; that is the lust of the flesh.

The tree was pleasant to the eyes; that is the lust of the eyes. It was a tree to be desired to make one wise; this describes the pride of life. As the devil is opposed to Christ, and the flesh is hostile to the Spirit, so the world is antagonistic to the Father. Appetite, avarice, and ambition are not of the Father, but of the world. That is, they do not proceed from the Father, but find their source in the world. Worldliness is the love for passing things. The human heart can never find satisfaction with things. 2:17 The world is passing away, and the lust of it. When a bank is breaking, smart people do not deposit in it. When the foundation is tottering, intelligent builders do not proceed. Concentrating on this world is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. So wise people do not live for a world that is passing away. But he who does the will of God abides forever.

It is the will of God that delivers us from the temptation of passing things. This, incidentally, was the life verse of D. L. Moody, the great evangelist, and is inscribed on his tombstone: He who does the will of God abides forever.2:18 Another test of those who are in the Christian fellowship is the test of doctrine. The subject is introduced by a warning addressed to those who are babes in Christ against false teachers. Those who are young in the faith are especially susceptible to the lies of the Antichrist.

John’s readers had been taught that an Antichrist would arise prior to the coming of Christ and pretend to be Christ. Just as coming events cast their shadow before them, so prior to the rise of the Antichrist, many antichrists appear. These are false teachers who offer a false christ and a false gospel. It is remarkable that the day in which we live is characterized by the existence of many Christ-denying cults, and these all bear testimony to the fact that the coming of the Savior is near. 2:19 These false teachers were professing Christians who once associated with the apostles. However, in heart they were not really one with true believers, and they showed this by going out from the fellowship. If they had been of us, they would have continued with us. Here we learn that true faith always has the quality of permanence. If a man has really been born again, he will go on for the Lord. It does not mean that we are saved by enduring to the end, but rather that those who endure to the end are really saved.

The false teachers went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.2:20 But this raises the question: How can a young believer know what is truth and what is falsehood? The answer is that we have an anointing from the Holy One, and … know all things, and this anointing refers to the Holy Spirit and is from the Holy One, the Lord Jesus Christ. When a person is saved, he receives the indwelling Holy Spirit, and He enables the believer to discern between truth and error. When John tells his young readers you know all things, he does not mean this in an absolute sense. It is not that they have perfect knowledge, but rather that they have the capacity to recognize what is true and what is not. Thus the youngest, simplest believer has the capacity of discernment in divine things that an unsaved philosopher would not have.

The Christian can see more on his knees than the worldling can see on his tiptoes. In the physical realm, when a baby is born, he is at once endowed with all the faculties of the human race. He has eyes, hands, feet, and brains. He never gets these later. Although they grow and develop, the whole person is there at the first. So it is when a person is born again.

He has at that moment all the faculties that he will ever have, although there will be endless possibilities for developing them. 2:21 John did not write because his readers were ignorant of the truth, but rather to confirm them in the truth that they knew, and to remind them that no lie is of the truth. The Gnostics were teaching doctrines that were contrary to the word of God, and therefore they were lies. Their principal lie, the very basis of all their teaching, was their denial that Jesus is the Christ. As pointed out in the introduction, they taught that Jesus was a mere man and that the Christ came upon Him at His baptism. This is the great lie of some of the cults today. The Bible everywhere insists that the Jesus of the NT is the Lord (Jehovah) of the OT. It is not correct to say that the Christ came upon Jesus, but rather that Jesus is the Christ. 2:22 John is careful to point out that to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus is to deny the Father also. Some people like to believe that they worship God, but they do not want to have anything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle says, He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.2:23 In Joh_8:19, Joh_8:42, Jesus said that those who failed to recognize His deity and to love Him neither knew the Father nor had Him as their Father. Similarly, John says, Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. Here we have the wonderful truth of the unity between the Father and the Son. You cannot have the Father unless you have the Son. This is a message which should be heeded by all Unitarians, Christian Scientists, Muslims, Modernists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Jews. 2:24 The safeguard for young believers against the false teachers is to let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. This refers to the teachings of the Lord Jesus and of all His apostles. Our great safety is to stay close to the word of God. We should test everything by What do the Scriptures say? If a teaching does not agree with the Bible, then we should reject it also. As Dr. Ironside used to say, If it’s new, it’s not true, and if it’s true, it’s not new.2:25 When we abide in the Christian doctrine, we give proof of the reality of our faith. And the promise of that faith is eternal life. When we accept the Lord Jesus, we receive His own life, namely, eternal life, and this life enables us to test all new and questionable doctrines. 2:26, 27 John wrote thus to the young believers concerning the false teachers by way of warning. He does not have any fear as to the eventual outcome when he remembers that his readers had received … the anointing from the Lord Jesus. As mentioned previously, the anointing is the Holy Spirit, and here we learn that the Holy Spirit abides in you. This is a positive statement that once the Holy Spirit is received, He will never be taken away. Because we have received the Holy Spirit, we do not need any one to teach us. This does not mean that we do not need Christian teachers in the church.

God has made specific provision for such teachers in Eph_4:11. It means that the Christian does not need any teaching apart from what is found in the Word of God as to the truth of God. The Gnostics professed to have additional truth, but John is saying here that there is no need for additional truth. With the Word of God in our hands and the Spirit of God in our hearts, we have all that we need for instruction in the truth of God. 2:28 John addresses all the dear children of the family of God, and exhorts them to abide in Him so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. The we here refers to the apostles, and the teaching is that if the Christians to whom John wrote did not go on faithfully for the Lord, the apostles who led them to Christ would be ashamed at Christ’s coming. This verse emphasizes the importance of follow-up work in all evangelistic endeavors. It also suggests the possibility of shame when Christ comes.

1 John 2:29

VI. MARKS OF THOSE IN THE CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP (CONT.): RIGHTEOUSNESS, LOVE, AND THE CONFIDENCE IT BRINGS (2:29-3:24) 2:29 The fourth family trait is righteousness. We know in the physical realm that like begets like. So it is in the spiritual. Everyone who practices righteousness is born of God. Because God is righteous, it follows that all He does is righteous, and therefore everyone born of Him is righteous. This is John’s inescapable logic.